Conference addresses racial, gender issues

High school diploma. Bachelor’s degree. Master’s degree.

With each degree, the salary rose. But the salary for women was consistently lower than the salary for men.

Speaker Wakisha Malone illustrated the importance of education and showed the differences in salary based on education and gender at the second-annual Women of Color Leadership Conference on Friday and Saturday.

The conference included high school students, college students and professional women.

Freshman Tenecia Broaden, who was on the planning committee for the conference, introduced Malone, coordinator of academic advising and program services at Groups Student Support Services.

Broaden said Malone told students what life would be like living on a salary of $20,000 to $30,000, and many of the high school students were surprised at how little money that is.

Patrick Smith, conference chairman, said Malone’s speech illustrated that education is a vital part of a higher quality of life.

He estimated 70 to 80 women attended the conference on Friday, including students from Bloomington High School North, Bloomington High School South and Bloomington New Tech High School. He said the numbers were higher than he and the planning committee expected because high school and college students attended the conference both days.

“The higher count goes to show the need for these kind of events,” Smith said.

Sessions about various topics followed Malone’s speech. Freshman Cristin Stubbs, who also helped plan the conference, served as an ambassador to three sessions by helping and handing out evaluations.

She said she thought all the sessions were engaging and informative, but a session about black women in the media and entertainment really opened her eyes.

Stubbs said she knew the different ways women were portrayed, but this session illustrated the different ways women’s bodies are negatively presented and called for a change to be more professional.

As a mentor to middle school students, Stubbs said she will incorporate the session’s message when she meets with students.

Stubbs said she mostly talks to students about college, but now she can talk about how students can be held back because of their race.

She added she noticed the high school students looked confused, shocked and amazed, seeming to not completely understand. But Stubbs said the messages were helpful because it shows them what is out there and what they can do about it.

“It speeds up their learning curve,” Stubbs said.

Broaden added that one session about date rape and sexual assault was shocking because many of the high school girls had no idea it could happen in high school as well as college. She said she couldn’t believe the students didn’t know or didn’t want to believe the situations are true. The session taught the girls the importance of being safe.

Broaden said it was important for high school students to see black figures, such as one speaker who was a judge, and think, “I can do this.” She added that local black women who are professionals are more relatable than celebrities such as Oprah.

“The conference was needed to be able to uplift these women and to give them a shoulder to lean on,” she said.